


You and I, I and Who, Who Am I?

by Levottomuus



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Developing Friendships, F/M, Identity Issues, Mild Hurt/Comfort, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:40:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23577052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Levottomuus/pseuds/Levottomuus
Summary: Returning to Jabberwock Island to live out the rest of their days in tranquility, the former Remnants of Despair have all embraced their respective fates, and became content with who they are - with one notable exception.
Relationships: Mioda Ibuki & Ultimate Imposter
Comments: 8
Kudos: 32





	You and I, I and Who, Who Am I?

**Author's Note:**

> I intented to write on this subject for the longest time since the first work I posted here, but sure enough, I was too lazy to do so.  
> Nothing much to add other than that I wish you a pleasant read, and kudos or comments are greatly appreciated-  
> Much love, Levo

The gentle scent of palm trees and saltwater was carried by the zephyr, which rippled the tides of the vast blue body of the azure ocean spread out in front of him. The sand on which he rested was dry, but comfortably warm, as the sun’s rays effortlessly brought heat upon the island’s surface. Somehow, despite the jarringly exotic aesthetic, he liked the place. Found it relaxing, even, you could say; it was still a long shot from calling it home, but he realised full well that he’s a person who had no home before, anyway. A place to call home... never to be.  
  
And as his mind drifted and wandered in this notion, the one that he dreaded to recall time and again, the fleeting peace he found vanished into the thin air, riding the light, steady wind to the doldrums over yonder. In an instant, the tranquil comfort was replaced by the same old doubts and worries, the fears, the daemons he so hated to face alone. Yet for the man there was no such thing as company; he has long since forfeited the thought of a companion, a comrade, a friend. Certainly, a man with no kindred could not hope to be graced with someone foreign and alien to rely on, right? Someone who doesn’t even have the faintest hint of an own self, a simple complementary to his bodily existence, for the very concept of identity was a frightening unknown, like a fog too thick and low to navigate lest you lose your way and wander forevermore—  
  
“Yo!” a perky voice sprung up from behind his back. “Whaddaya doing out here all by yourself?” it continued, unfazed and unabated. “Dinner will be ready in a bit and we’re all gathering together to munch, so I went to fetch ya!”  
  
Brought from the realms of his own mind back to reality, he felt the coarse sand scrubbing the skin of his hands as he had subconsciously buried them in the ground. Adjusting his glasses, The Ultimate Imposter scowled at the cerulean expanses of the sea whose depths reminded him of the own unexplored avenues he was yet to tread, as estranged to them as he was to himself, and the depths were the fear and the dark and the unknown embodied in an infinity of liquid nothingness that stretches as far as the eye can see - but then he realised his thoughts had almost strayed from the here and now again, and let out an aggravated, yet muted groan.  
  
“You didn’t have to come for me. I would much prefer to dine alone, anyway.”  
– “Oh come now, you!” the cheery tone perforated his eardrums like the energised sound of an electric guitar solo, one that the owner of those words would undoubtedly perform herself. Mioda Ibuki, as colourful and loud as ever, now skipped around her still-sitting classmate to face him, bending her knees to crouch with unmistakable agility so inherent to her.  
  
“What’s got into your head all of a sudden? The shine is sunning, the chirps are birding, and Ibuki’s hungry! It’s high time we hightail it back to the cafeteria for some good grub, and surely, you wouldn’t let a stunning beauty like me walk on her own, would ya?” she blurted out with her usual intensity, the almost comically exaggerated expression on her face underlining the urgency and severity of the crux of the matter - her empty stomach. Thinking that a verbal retort wouldn’t get him anywhere, he responded by furrowing his brow a little and leaning back, trying to create some distance between himself and his unabashedly staring classmate.  
  
“Gee, this won’t do at all. The food’ll get all cold... and more importantly, EATEN. So speak,” she poked his cheek, causing him to recoil and swat her hand away weakly, but resolutely, “we’ve only just got back here anyway. You homesick or something? You know you can tell Ibuki, it’s fine~”  
– “Homesick? For a moment there, I foolishly thought you were serious...” he scoffed momentarily, sealing his lips shut right afterwards before averting his gaze from the distant waters to look – no, glare – directly at Mioda. He analysed the bewildered expression on her face, reading it like an open book; he recognised that while her immediate attention was directed at the prospect of devouring her evening meal whole thrice over, she was genuinely concerned. That thought had taken him aback a little.  
  
Concerned?  
  
He sighed, lowered his eyes and continued in a monotone, steady voice. “Do I really look the type to feel disheartened about my absence from places that don’t exist, Mioda-san?”  
– “Huh?” Her face widened even further to the point it looked almost grotesque, as if the Ultimate Musician had taken a side gig in mime and was exercising her newfound skills. “Whaddaya mean, don’t exist? Everyone has a home, it always exists! Even if Ibuki can’t be at home, she still has one!”  
– “I wouldn’t expect you to understand,” his eyebrows stiffened slightly again, as he struggled to come to terms with the unwavering intrusion of his personal space, “but as I said before, I have no home. No family, either. No one to fall back on. No place to call my own. It’s what it is, Mioda-san.”  
– “Huuuuuh? Well, I guess I don’t really get it, you’re right... but in that case, what prevents you from looking for them?” she eyed the boy quizzically.  
  
Her words echoed through the hollow crevasses of his core, the one last relic of his past self that was so expertly buried away. “What indeed.” Grinning smugly to himself, the Ultimate Imposter slowly stood up, brushing the sand off his cream-white suit and deep black shoes that still shone a deep lustre. Then, he adjusted his cross-tie and stepped out beyond Mioda, shuffling his feet towards the endless abyss of the ocean. “If I had the answer, you would not have found me here. Alas, the ‘what’ that prevents me from doing so is myself. Or, rather,” he paused, folding his arms across his chest, “the lack thereof, I should say.”  
– “Now you’ve really lost me, you know. Do you even know what you’re saying?” she bolted to the spot next to him, leaning over his shoulder.  
  
He frowned again, growing slightly agitated with Ibuki’s seemingly thoughtless questions. “I should perhaps let you know I don’t care much for people prying about my privacy. As long as I am the Ultimate Imposter, there is no me. That’s all there is to it.” Tossing his bangs aside with a swipe of the hand, he fell silent again.  
“Well wait a sec there, alright? This is important to me too! Because Ibuki wants to make sure her friends are—“  
– “Friends, you say.”  
– “Well, duh! Ibuki likes her friends! And worries about them!”  
– “Can you truly be friends with someone who doesn’t even know himself?”  
– “What do you mean? You’re you, and you’re my friend.”  
– “No, that’s wrong, Mioda-san. I’m not.”  
– “Huh? You’re not what?”  
  
As she looked at him intently, both hands on the hips, she noticed that his expression turned a lot sourer. With teeth gritted and eyes forcefully shut, he clenched his fist and exhaled through his nose with some force before seemingly straightening his posture once more. He glanced at the Ultimate Musician, who for the first time in a while stayed completely silent, a little intimidated by his previous look, and then, as if facing away from the world, he turned himself back to the horizon.  
  
“I am not me. I have never been. Mioda-san, don’t you understand? I have always been someone else. The Ultimate Imposter, always forced to pretend. All I know is feigning personality, assuming the guise of others. I cheat and deceive, like looks always do. My entire essence is a fake, an illusion crafted by myself for myself. Everything is simply... a lie.”  
  
With these words, he was prepared to turn on his heels and walk away from the scene, but something kept him stationary. A faint, weary and weak voice he had forgotten to hear so many years ago. And then, a second, gentle, smooth and kind, as if caressing and nurturing the sensation within him. Without the signature boom in her tone, Ibuki spoke softly, unsure of her own words, but from her heart. “But that’s not true at all. Right, you might’ve been impersonating others until now, but... actually, no. I don’t believe that. You say you’re a pretender, but I can’t accept that.”  
– “Can’t accept? What is there to disagree with? Without my talent, I am no one... not even a master imposter, just an existence without a purpose. To say you can’t accept that—“  
– “No, that’s not what I meant! Gah, words...” Mioda growled, massaging her temples as she desperately attempted to grasp the notion firmly and put it into perspective, “...it’s, like, you are not just an illusion or a shadow of someone else. You are what makes the impersonation so good in the first place!”  
– “I don’t think I follow, to be honest...” a doubtful response lingered in the air.  
“I mean, without you, it would have no flair, no soul. It would be just a charade! But because it’s you, it’s real, even if it’s just playing pretend.” Placing a hand on his shoulder, she smiled and leaned her head to the side. “And now, since Mitarai-kun is here as well, you don’t need to pretend anymore, you know?”  
– “I suppose, however...” he solemnly looked up to the partly clouded sky, as if he was seeking the answers to questions he was never asked, “...without someone to pose as, who am I to be, Mioda-san?”  
– “Why would you need to be someone when you can just be yourself?”  
  
Dumbfounded, he lowered his head to meet Ibuki’s eyes - and as her smile grew ever sweeter, she joyfully wrapped her arms around his impressive torso and buried her face in his shoulder. Perhaps the last thing he had expected to happen, he reflexively shuddered and voiced some kind of half-hearted complaint that didn’t really translate to words as much as to some sort of muffled interjection, the reaction clearly quite amusing for the girl that made that bold, spontaneous move that clashed with his calculating approach: “Aww, did I startle you that much? Here, on the house~”  
  
And the punk-styled lass ran her palms across the length and width of his back, and the well-dressed lad had finally given in to the embrace, holding the Ultimate Musician’s slender body with great caution, unaccustomed to this whole ordeal. As they stood there at the sunlit sandy beach, his mind raced out and about, collecting the fragments of the entire exchange and piecing them together in one grand, vivid mosaic that made less sense the further it had been completed. However, he realised in the midst of the maelstrom of his notions and emotions that all this time, the sentences she spoke were everything but mindless small talk. It’s as if she knew exactly what to say in her own eccentric way, and he found that greatly impressive.  
  
Not to mention, the warmth of hers was so inexplicably soothing and comforting it made him ever so nervous; this was yet another part of the unknown he learned to fear so.  
  
Mioda hummed quietly, satisfied with herself, and then raised her head from his shoulder, speaking a little too close to the poor boy’s ear: “Now come oooooon, let’s go eat already, I'm starvinggggggggggggg.”  
– “I hope you are aware that you absolutely murdered the magic of the moment, Mioda-san,” he said dryly, eyeing her with feigned contempt, but immediately sighed and continued: “but then again, it’s only thanks to you the moment even came to be. Well... thank you, Mioda-san. Thank you very much.”  
For a moment upon hearing that, Ibuki stood there puzzled, but quickly regained composure and grinned. “That’s me alright! Mioda Ibuki, at your service!”  
And for the first time in what seemed like a lifetime, the Ultimate Imposter looked at his _friend_... and smiled.  
“Well then, let’s go! Food waits for no one!”  
  
The two of them paced along the walkway, content with the silence among them as the shine sunned and the chirps birded. After finally arriving at the resort’s gate, the blonde stopped, and as he operated the entrance, he nonchalantly addressed his classmate.  
“Mioda-san.”  
– “Uh-huh?”  
– “Thank you yet again.”  
– “For what? Ibuki hasn’t even done anything special—”  
– “That I do not know yet. One thing is for certain, though - if you hadn’t come in the first place, I doubt it would turn out to be such an… interesting evening.”  
– “Well then! Now you see that we’re here for you, right? Especially good old me!”  
– “I may not look it, but I am truly grateful.”  
– “Aww, how sweet~ but enough sentimentalities, we’re almost there! Foooooood!”  
  
Her unrestrained enthusiasm forced a stifled laugh out of the young man. As he slowly withdrew from her side, trailing slightly behind and watching her skip around the pool side, he sensed a strange sense of familiarity. With a nod to reassure himself, he followed suit and traced her steps to the cafeteria, finally at peace again.  
  
_I don’t quite understand any of this, but... I promise to try. Even if it’s just an insignificant amount of progress of an insignificant man, I wish to make you proud..._  
_…Ibuki-san._

**Author's Note:**

> And then they lived happily ever- okay, just kidding.  
> There's one more idea I would like to explore before I run of out them, so if you happen to like my style, and happen to have an idea you absolutely long for to be written, I'm always open to inspiration and suggestions - just please bear in mind I might terribly botch the characters I'm not familiar with in the process-  
> Other than that, I'm delighted you read through the entire thing, and wish you a nice day!


End file.
